


You're a Genius And I'm An Idiot, And That's Okay

by shadow_shifterUnKnown31



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, How Do I Tag, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Love Confessions, Male Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, My First Fanfic, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), Temporarily Unrequited Love, Uncle Coran (Voltron), flirtyrobot, pidgance, plance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29457567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadow_shifterUnKnown31/pseuds/shadow_shifterUnKnown31
Summary: Lance and Pidge gets together eventually, but how will they do it? Which alternate timeline will they follow? Are the Paladins of Voltron capable of defeating Zarkon in this timeline? How will the Paladins feel if they face a decade of war?  Will there be a lot of plance?I'll only answer the last one right now: YES!
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura & Coran (Voltron), Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Lance (Voltron), Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Shay (Voltron), Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt, Matt Holt & Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	1. From the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic, so constructive criticism is appreciated as well. In addition to this being my first fanfic, I am also an amateur in writing. I just get inspired from reading other fanfics and I want to contribute to the garden. I have a whole lot of plance ideas in mind, so I also hope I get to deliver them to you guys. Keep in mind there might be a lot of stupid mistakes ahead, but hey it's all part of the learning process, right? Just a new writer whos passionate about this one ship.

Lance and Hunk had just caught up with each other after eating together at the cafeteria. Lance had been distracted by this one girl in particular for a while now, but she had always found a way to escape him. Lance would try to talk to her before, but as soon as he got close to her someone would bump him away by accident or a professor would pull him and warn him about wandering off. No matter what, Lance was somehow prevented from ever talking to her by some unknown force. Hunk, realizing his best friend was in deep thought, started a conversation with him. 

“Hey, Lance? Earth to Lance? Lance to Earth? Hello?” Hunk started questioning his buddy

“Oh, sorry bud. I was….thinking.” Lance replied.

“Hmmm….well I did see that mystery girl go through the west wing.” Hunk whispered.

Lance sighed. “It feels hopeless trying to talk to this one girl. I think we should just stick to exploring around the Garrison and maybe moving on, don’t you think?” 

“Wow….just wow. I’m astonished, really. This is the ever so fearless Lance McClain? The curious beanpole, who is also a big flirt, gives up just like that?” Hunk teased.

“Guess so, Hunk. Guess so. Anyways, let’s go to the restricted area again! Come on, please! Please, Hunk?” Lance, now having his mood brighten up, begged Hunk to accompany him in his little adventure. 

“Do I really have a choice?” Hunk asked, even though he knew the answer to his own question.

“Nope!” Lance smiled as he pulled Hunk along with him.

The next day was a big day for Lance, not only did it decide who his team will be, but it will also decide if he would be a fighter pilot. Lance was a bit overwhelmed and anxious while walking towards the placement chart. Hunk caught up to Lance and began improving his mood like always. Hunk has been very special to Lance, he had always been there for him and had always supported him except for times when Lance suggested a really dumb idea. Hunk always knew how Lance felt and Lance appreciated that, every time Lance would fall, Hunk was there to pick him right up. As they approached the chart, Lance began reading where he’d been placed and with who. "Lance McClain….Ohhh Hunk, nice you’re with me too and….Pidge? Pidge Gunderson?" Lance read to himself. 

“Our communications office is Pidge….Pidge Gunderson, huh. Who the heck is he, Hunk?” Lance said in confusion.

“Right here.” 

Lance and Hunk turned around to see who had just spoken. Before them was a somewhat short male standing awkwardly by the entrance of the hall. He had caramel eyes and freckles behind his absurdly funny glasses, he also had brown hair spiking up in random places. Lance was charmed. Wow, he doesn’t look half bad actually. "Well, let’s get to know this Pidge Gunderson" Lance pondered a bit before being suddenly interrupted by the petite figure.

“Um….Lance and Hunk, right? Great to meet you guys, but I have something urgent to attend to so….see you guys later.” Pidge ran off in the opposite direction.

Lance was a little disheartened because the conversation with Pidge had ended abruptly. Pidge had intrigued him for sure, but now Lance was filled with curiosity . Both Lance and Hunk returned to their dorms to change and begin their little routine of exploring the Garrison. However, their routine halted when Lance’s eyes caught Pidge sneaking about down the hall. After telling Hunk, and possibly forcing him to join, he and Lance began trailing Pidge. They both reached the roof, but decided to wait until Pidge was setting up his gadgets from his bag, which he apparently brought. Lance decided to be the first to sneakily approach Pidge, signaling Hunk to follow after. 

“The stars are lovely tonight, Pidge.” Lance cooed as he gently lifted Pidge’s headphones.

“GGGGGAAAAAHHHHH!!!Oh….it's just you, Lance.” Pidge looked away immediately.

“I’m kind of hurt that you didn’t invite me to your little date” Lance winked at Pidge, making him even more flustered.

“Oh,um….I was just….studying the constellations.” 

“Pidge, your false words wound me. Oh, whatever shall we do to discipline thee? Honorary Knight of thy Kitchen, please step forward to assist thee!” Lance playfully said.

“Okay, okay. You got me, I’m not really studying the constellations.” Pidge confessed while still smiling at Lance’s previous statement.

Lance and Hunk then ganged up on Pidge into confessing his whole truth. According to Pidge, the Garrison has been falsifying space reports and the most recent and most important report being the Kerberos mission, involving Samuel and Mathew Holt alongside Takashi Shirogane. Pidge stated that the Garrison announced that there was a ship malfunction, but when he hacked into their computer database, he found out that there was no such malfunction. Hunk was reluctant to believe Pidge’s tale, but Lance immediately believed him. After all, Lance knew that Shirogane was one of the best of the best and paired him up with two of Earth’s brightest minds, then there is no way that the ship had failed. It didn’t sit well that a mere malfunction took down one of Earth’s best built teams. As the conversation ended, something entered the atmosphere. Pidge relayed the message to Lance and Hunk after looking into his binoculars, that the thing that entered the atmosphere was an alien ship.

“LANCE! HUNK! Look, it's an alien ship! We have to go get a closer look. Come on, come on. Hurry up! Pidge excitingly said as he jumped up and down.

Lance never really got a good look at Pidge up close, after all he only recently met him. But the way his eyes gleamed with excitement and how he genuinely smiled made Lance’s heart flutter. His caramel eyes basically pleading Lance to join him, it kind of reminded how he always acted with Hunk, and with his crooked smile at the end just did it for Lance. "Wow….just wow. His eyes are something else. Am I really questioning my sexua- No, no. He’s just someone that shares my passion for exploration." Lance thought as he got up from the ground.

“Right behind you, Pidge! Come on, Hunk. Don’t be a big baby now.” Lance encouraged Hunk to catch up with him and Pidge.

“Blue….Paladin, can you hear me?” A disembodied voice whispered. Lance was caught off guard, but after a few moments of silence he ignored the sudden whisper. 

The group escaped Garrison grounds and was now headed towards the crash site. As they began to approach the cliff that was situated over the crash site, Hunk caught Lance staring at Pidge and pulled him aside so Pidge couldn’t hear what he had to say.

“Better watch yourself before you get caught and it gets really embarrassing. I would go to your defense, but this might be really funny, you know. I didn't know you swung that way, and with a person you just met. You usually just do your flirt, then leave. Is this time finally different?” Hunk whispered, but his smirk was very obvious.

“What! No, I’m-. Look, I was just thinking about something, okay? And what do you mean ‘swung that way’?” Lance defended.

“Hmmm, maybe this is the princess that you’ll swoon over, well prince in this case.” Hunk added on.

“I just want to know him better, maybe he’ll be a part of our group. He looks interesting enough and I think it’s time we expand our circle, no?” 

Hunk grinned “You don’t usually want to know about someone and add them to our circle of friends immediately after meeting them. Why is this time different?" 

“Are you guys talking about me?” Pidge intervened. 

“No.” Lance and Hunk said in unison. 

“Weird. Anyways, hurry up I can see the cliffside already.”

Lance started to lose consciousness, but as his eyelids began to close he still feels that he’s running with Pidge. He felt his legs moving and the air brushing against his face, but he started to lose view of the ship and his friends. The world became pitch black and Lance only felt fatigue. The scenery changed to a weird alien platform surrounded by what seems to be an aftermath of a space battle. A lot of what appears to be fallen ships causing fires surrounded him, and in the distance behind him, he saw a weird looking structure that resembled a castle. A woman appeared before him with a shed of light behind her, walking ever so slightly towards him almost cautiously. Lance started to realize that this humanoid figure was really tall like really really tall. She stood at six feet and probably eight inches, and her aura just spelled out menacing. Lance was usually one of the tallest and was always on the higher end of the height spectrum, but looking at her he felt very intimidated and quite small. She wore a mostly white armor with hints of blue decorated throughout. The plating, however, looked damaged and traces of blood coming from various wounds dripped down.

“Tell me, short one. Where is Voltron? Where is the Green Paladin? Where is Zarkon and King Alford?” The humanoid began. 

“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have answers to any of those questions. Look, I was just at the Galaxy Garrison with Hunk and Pidge and there was this alien ship that crash landed right outside basically. Hold on a second. What the heck are you talking about? Green Paladin? King?” Lance babbled as he tried to grasp the situation he was in.

“Did Zarkon win? Am I in the past or future? What happened after….” The humanoid paced as she talked to herself. “Okay, have you seen a relatively short, but quite cute paladin?” 

“Well, I don’t know about paladin, but there is someone rather cu-. Wait, Paladin? Zarkon? What are you talking about?” Lance caught himself just in time as he gave her an answer.

“Hmmm….no. It seems that we have lost. Dammit! DAMMIT!!! THAT TRAITOROUS BASTARD!!!” The humanoid sighed. “I’ll need time to think about this. In the meantime you can go back, but I’ll be calling you back once you’re needed again.” 

Lance started to regain his consciousness immediately after she had waved her hand. His hands were on an unfamiliar control panel, and he felt someone shaking his shoulders.

“LANCE! LANCE!” A distressed voice yelled.

“Ow….where am I?” Lance said while trying to regain consciousness.

“Lance, what the heck! We’re about to enter this weird structure thing. Come on, I didn’t want to leave you in this lion.” Pidge answered as she led Lance out of the Lion.

The structure had resembled the one in his vision, but the setting around it was more peaceful and less hot. As Lance walked towards the ‘castle’, Pidge distanced himself away from him while Hunk came and made his way to Lance. The group was split up with their own little subgroups: Shiro and Keith taking charge, Pidge in the middle, and Lance and Hunk all the way in the back. Lance told Hunk about what happened and explained that he doesn’t remember a lot after their Garrison escape. Hunk told Lance in great detail about all the things he had ‘missed’. Lance was shocked at how much time had passed when he’d only talked for what seemed like seconds. They had rescued Shiro with Keith, they found a blue lion shaped ship, which he himself had piloted, escaped from a super scary alien shipper, which was also exponentially bigger than the lion one, AND they teleported to a planet far from Earth. Lance had a hard time keeping up.

Eventually, the group made their way inside the Castle and found what seems to be multiple sleeping chambers. The silence annoyed Lance, so he decided to start up a conversation with Pidge, who was very much alone.

“Hey, Pidge. How are you holding up?” Lance started.

“I’m holding up good, Lance. Why do you ask?” Pidge replied, concealing any type of emotion.

“Just wanted to know, I guess. I have a question that’s been lingering in my head ever since Hunk gave me a refresher. Was that really your girlfriend in the photo?” Lance asked. 

“No. She’s….an old classmate.” 

“She’s kind of cute, don’t you think?” Lance inched ever so forward to see Pidge’s reaction. Realizing that Pidge had always been reserved when it came to emotions, Lance decided that now would be a good opportunity to fish anything out from Pidge.

“You really think so? Why bring this up now? Is there really any importance to this?” Pidge murmured. He looked away from Lance’s face, which was gradually coming closer to his. His heart pounded faster as Lance’s face was just inches away from his own, making Pidge get a really good close to his dark blue eyes. 

“What if I told you I was into her? That her eyes charmed me ever since I laid my own eyes on her. That her smile resembles the smile that you showed me last night in addition to those caramel eyes you have. What would you do?” Lance teased with his very best flirty persona.

“I….would….um….I….you. Where did that come from Lance!?!” Pidge stammered as he tried to assemble any type of logic or thought to reply against Lance.

Lance giggled, breaking his character. “Nowhere, just trying to see if you’d react.”

“Yeah….thanks, Lance.” Pidge answered. “Wait, Lance. Was all that you said true? Did you really find my classmate cute? 

Before Lance could give an answer, fatigue struck him once again. He said something, but couldn’t remember what he had just said. The setting began to gradually change again, the weird alien corridor dissipated, replaced by a familiar open area platform. Once again, a very tall lady appeared before him and started to converse. 

“Alrighty! I came up with a plan to solve our current situation.” The humanoid announced. “You will have to transfer my consciousness from the Blue Lion to one of the fighting dummies, so that I can train and talk to you without you having to become unconscious in order for me to talk. Sounds good?” 

“Fighting dummies? Blue Lion? This, this….is kind of a lot to process. Can you at least give me some background information or some context because I don’t even know what you are or where you came from. It’s kind of hard to just put faith into someone intimidating and someone I just met.” Lance replied as respectfully as he can.

“Fair point, human. I am Fzetia, former Blue Paladin of Voltron. My last memory before talking to you was fighting with the resistance after Zarkon had betrayed the Altean Empire. The battle between Zarkon and I was a clear victory for me, he was never a match for me in combat until he held the Green Paladin as a hostage. After giving up my bayard the bastar-” Fzetia trailed off. Her aura from the beginning had disappeared, she was no longer bright and happy, she gave off a pained look. The drastic change in character had thrown Lance off. Lance could see the pain in her scarlet eyes, tears ran down her cheeks as she finally gave in. “the bastard stabbed him through the chest anyways. I fought Zarkon until he had dealt a lethal blow to me. I remember laying down next to….next to the Green Paladin, bleeding out, telling me his last words. He said that he’ll be working on our vengeance, one way or the other Zarkon will pay in full. His fading eyes, his dying smile, that’s what fuels my determination for our vengeance.” Fzetia concluded with a whisper.

“Vengeance? Wait a second. Tell me if I’m wrong, but it seemed to me that you died in your story. Also, how exactly are you going to pull off this ‘vengeance’ of yours?” Lance questioned. To be honest, Lance was speechless, this had seemed like a tragic ending to a romance movie he had watched back home. Alien romance, space warfare, creepy castle structure, it all began to make his brain go haywire.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’ll train you when you transfer my consciousness to the dummy, though be warned I am very strict about technique and stances. I can’t answer your questions completely, all I remember are bits and pieces of my memories. It’s like I have the whole picture, but some of the information is blurred or crossed out. To be honest, it might be something my….m- the Green Paladin did.” Fzetia answered with a happier tone.

“So you’re gonna be my teacher? Nice, I can finally get ahead of that Keith! Wait a second, I have a question about your story.” Lance asked.

“Hmmm?” 

“Why did you keep focusing on the Green Paladin? Is he your boyfriend?” Lance jested, which brightened up the mood even more.

“Whaa-! NOO!!!! He is not my boyfriend!!!” Fzetia said while being flustered. The question had caught her off guard, she expected something more serious or less personal, not something about her love life.

“I think you’re lying, he has to be something special to you. You know, you even asked me if I’ve seen a cute paladin around.” Lance giggled as he made a stupid face. 

Lance knows she must have had it tough, having to deal with a death experience then suddenly thrusted into the future where your killer is the most powerful and influential being. Being able to have times like this would be good for her and him, times that will brighten even the dimmest of rooms. It would balance out all the gritty and harsh times that would come ahead. Maybe she can help him with his own problems, give advice on his own problems, maybe even be there as a supportive figure. That’s not so bad, someone who can listen to me without me being a bother to anyone.

“Husband….He’s my husband.” Fzetia murmured as her cheeks began to pink up. 

“HAHA!!! I knew it! Tell me how you did it. How did you guys get together? Is it like some fantasy romance? Were any of you royalty? Who approached who? How did you guys get together?” Lance proceeded to bombard Fzetia with questions.

“Nope, not telling! Anyways, you have to go back already.” Fzetia ordered.

“Wait, don’t leave me on a cliffhanger! That’s also just an excuse to avoid the question.” 

“Oops, too late.” Fzetia smirked.

Fzetia waved her hand, returning Lance back to the Castle. Lance had felt fatigue once more, then a surge of energy as he opened his eyes. He can see everyone was staring at him, except Pidge. The awkward silence had gone over for a couple seconds, making Lance feel uncomfortable and confused. Why were they all looking at him? Did he mutter something weird? 

“Ahem, Lance. Do you know what you’re doing?” Shiro asked in an authoritative tone. 

“Um, can you guys repeat what’s happening?” Lance asked sheepishly.

“Dummy” Pidge whispered to himself, looking away from Lance. 

Shiro sighed. “Lance, were you even paying attention to the conversation? You’ve been acting strange lately and I want to know that this isn’t a recurring thing. Do I need to inform you about everything from the start? 

“Yes, please.” Lance replied with his hand scratching the back of his head.

“Okay, Voltron is assembled by five lions. We have one of them operational now, one in the Castle and we have the location of the other two. The one in the Castle cannot be used unless all of the other four are present here. So our plan is to achieve the other two and work our way on finding the Red Lion. You and Pidge will be retrieving the Green Lion and make your way towards the Yellow Lion’s location. Keith will be staying behind, waiting for any signs of the Red Lion. Me and Hunk will be on our way towards the Yellow Lion for recon, but we might need the firepower of two lions for an easy retrieval. Got that?” Shiro concluded his summary of the past few minutes.

“Okay, Paladins move out. Time is not on our side and the portal will not last forever.” Allura added on.

The paladins split up to their respective groups, making their way towards the hangar bay. The four paladins gave each other an affirmative nod before departing to their ships and exiting the Castle. Pidge and Lance made their way towards one of the portals aboard the Blue Lion and exited out to a peace planet that resembled Earth. The Blue Lion had landed and the two paladins were escorted towards the location of the Green Lion. As they sat on the boat, Pidge and Lance sat far from each other and silence dawned between them again. 

“Hey, Pidge? Wasn’t she hot? You know, the one with bright blue eyes. Don’t tell me you didn’t find her hot? Who was that attractive figure from before?” 

“She’s a space princess of a fallen empire.” Pidge replied while rolling his eyes. 

Is there a problem between us? I can feel some sort of tension in the air. Is it something I’ve said before?” Lance genuinely asked, straying from the topic he wanted to talk about.

“No, I’m just….worried. Worried about my family, worried about this whole thing, this whole this is kind of scary and I just want this over with. The sooner this is over, the sooner we can get back to our normal lives.” Pidge explained.

“Yeah, same here. I want my family to be safe, but this is also kind of my dream here. To explore space and see all the types of things it has to offer is truly a gift. Of course I want everyone to be safe, but you know this is a once in a lifetime chance. I have mixed feelings about this is what I’m really saying.” Lance confessed. 

“Hey, Lance? About that conversation we had before, are you really serious about my classmate?” Pidge blurted out. 

“That’s a good question, Pidge. Hmmmm. I don’t know yet, really. She’s- wait a second, I know what this is about. You’re worried that I’ll take her away from you. Well, I’ll have you know that I am a formidable foe. ” Lance grinned at his ‘realization’.

“What, no! Why would I-? I was just….curious to know what you think, okay?” Pidge was dumbstruck.

“It’s okay if you fell for my charm, that just means tha-”

“I did NOT fall for your charm, Lance. You just caught me off guard in a field I’m not too confident in. Why do you have to be like this?” Pidge affirmed as he fixed his glasses.

“You have arrived at your destination, Paladins.” The ferryman announced in a manner of some annoyance as well. He muttered something as they left and it seemed to be that Lance was the only one who heard it clearly. Pidge asked about what the ferryman had said, but Lance assured Pidge was nothing important. Pidge paid no attention to the ferryman’s remark and continued to walk away.

Pidge and Lance walked on the barely pathed road and headed towards the supposed Green Lion’s location. The air around them was calm and inviting, the moisture and vegetation made up most of the smell of the patchy forest they entered. The leaves on the trees rustled as the wind whistled. The heat from the sunlight barely passed through the green trees above them, making the air around them cool. A perfect dating place Lance thought. Breathtaking, quiet and above all peaceful, untouched by warfare that has apparently been going on for some time now. The forest was peaceful with little to no noises from its inhabitants, making it very soothing. Pidge was fascinated about the scenery, his caramel eyes sparked once again with curiosity and Lance couldn’t help but observe his partner. 

“What? Is there something in my hair?” Pidge questioned, still keeping his enthusiastic character.

“Nope, nothing. Your hair is perfectly fine, Pidge. Anyways, I think that vine covered thing is oddly suspicious, don’t you think?” Lance smiled.

Pidge was able to get her Lion out with ease. Before long, the Green Lion had sprung out of the vines and placed itself in front of Pidge. They entered the Lion and headed for Lance’s lion, so they could meet up with the rest of their crew. Once Lance had gotten back to his lion, both flew up to the portal from which they had come from, leaving behind the ever so peaceful planet.


	2. Baby Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Pidge go through the portal and devise a plan with an idling Altean ship, belonging to Shiro and Hunk. Dialogue between former Blue Paladin and Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize for this taking so long, writing is very hard. I know I'm just a beginner, but I hope to meet or pass your expectations for this story. Come to think of it, this is a slow burn. Hmmm. There may be a lot if apologizing on this trip so buckle in, grab some snacks, and enjoy the read. 
> 
> Enjoy :D

When Lance was told to be the decoy with Pidge for Shiro and Hunk, he did not expect three Galra command ships with what seems to be an endless supply of fighter pilots. The plan was to take all the attention away from Shiro so he can drop off Hunk to get the Yellow Lion. However, the sheer amount of Galra forces changed that to escorting Shiro safely past the Galra fighter pilots, and the opportunity to do so was the same as finding a needle in a haystack. Eventually, the opening came up and Hunk was able to get to the cave, where the Yellow Lion was stored, safely. Lance had formed a bright idea, in the midst of all the chaos, to challenge Pidge to see which one of them was the better pilot. Lance thought it wasn’t fair that Pidge was absurdly intelligent and was a capable pilot, heck he even piloted the Lion better than he did the first time around, granted that there was no Galra ship firing at the end. 

“Hey, Pidge? Let’s see who can take down the most ships and the winner will be declared the better pilot.”

“Really, Lance? At a time like this?”

“Well, we are just being decoys for Hunk and it doesn’t hurt to dent the numbers of Galra forces. Why? Are you scared that you’ll lose?”

“No, I’m just taking this seriously, but a little competition won’t hurt.” 

“Guys, prioritize your safety first.” Shiro intervened.

“Are you calling off the competition? Who do you have money on, anyways?” Lance asked.

“No, I am not calling off the competition. This seems to be a nice way to evaluate my underclassmen’s capabilities. And….I have money on Pidge.” Shiro replied with a smile.

“Wha- Hey! You know what they called me back at flight school? They called me the Tailor because of how I thread the needle!” Lance exclaimed defensively.

“Okay, Tailor, lets see what you got.” 

“You’re so on!”

The two paladins went blow for blow, making it a very close match. Whenever Pidge would destroy one ship, Lance would destroy one ship, and it would gradually increase as they continued the competition. Lance and Pidge were approaching their 20th ship destroyed, but a sudden missile knocked down the Blue Lion, rendering it immobile for a while. With this break of the standstill, Pidge was able to take the lead with soaring numbers, but Pidge seemed to catch on what was happening.

“Hey, Lance? Are you doing okay? On my radar you’re not moving.” 

“Um, yeah. I kind of need some help here, there’s three ships heading my way.” 

“Okay, I’m heading your way, Lance.” 

“Can you pick up the speed, Pidge? They’re getting too close for my comfort.”

“I’m doing everything I can, Lance. I’m coming.” Pidge responded with worry increasing by the second.

In a split second, the ships started accelerating towards Lance and firing their missiles in the process. It had seemed that the Blue Lion was going to take massive damage up until something popped up from the ground. The Yellow Lion bursted through the ground and covered the Blue Lion just in time to take the missiles. The three ships had only seconds to react to the situation with an addition of another lion, which wasn’t enough because they were soon destroyed by the Yellow Lion’s beams. 

“HUNK! What would I do without you?” Lance proclaimed 

“Yeah, sorry it took a while. Doesn’t this mean we can retreat now?” 

“Yes it does, Hunk. Paladins, retreat to the portal and back to the castle.” Shiro ordered.

“Guess I’m the better pilot, Lance.” Pidge giggled.

“Wh- Oh, yeah. This doesn’t really count because this is our first battle, you know.” 

“Hmm, okay. Whatever makes you sleep at night.” Pidge cooed.

“What did I miss? Was there a bet I don’t know about?” Hunk asked.

“Paladins! We can chat all we want when we get back to the Castle, but until then focus on getting back safely.” Shiro

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The paladins returned back to the Castle with relative ease, once they had entered the portal, the entrance behind them closed off. Allura ,Coran and Keith welcomed them back with opened arms and proceeded to head towards the control center. Walking towards the control center was fine for Lance, except for the fact that Pidge had told Hunk about their bet and was now being teased by Pidge AND Hunk. He emphasized the part where Lance had told him about his Tailor nickname and was the one who got knocked down first, which to Lance’s surprise Hunk laughed uncontrollably. The feeling of betrayal had stung Lance, his best friend had sided with another and now, he must exact his revenge on Pidge. 

“Okay, Paladins! We have good news and even more good news. The good news is that we have four out of the five lions of Voltron, three that are operational. The really good news is that we found some lingering Altean technology in space when we used our galactic radar, although it was a one time use and needs some repairing, but we can slow down the incoming Galra ships drastically.” Coran informed.

“Altean tech? What type of technology is available to us that can slow down the Galra?” Pidge questioned from the back.

“Great question, number five! Wel-”

“Number five?” Puzzled, Pidge asked as he stepped closer.

“Ah, yes. I called you based on your height, it does take time to learn new names when someone comes out of a 10,000 year sleep. Sorry about that, um Hunk. Wait no Keith, right?” Coran guessed.

“It's Pidge, but that’s fine. Now about that Altean tech.” Pidge adjusted the attention back to the more interesting topic.

“The Altean technology that’s able to buy us a lot of time are wormhole disruptors. Essentially, they reduce the distance travelled or available distance anyone could travel. It’s covered by energy particles that makes it transparent and is powered by solar energy. That reason alone allowed it to stay functionable for the past 10,000 years because it was never damaged and it was never activated by the Castle.” Coran continued. 

“Oh, so it’s like invisible space mine, but when it activates instead of blowing up, it just reduces anyone’s wormholing efficiency.” Lance interjected.

“Correct, number three!” 

“Okay, with the available time we have to train and now what it means to be Paladins of Voltron.” Shiro declared.

“Correct, Black Paladin. As you know, you’re not at the level as the previous paladins, which means that everyone must train and prepare for the Galra in the battles to come.” Allura assured, while showing images and videos of the previous paladins training sessions.

“Anything for you, Princess.” Lance winked.

Everyone except Coran groaned, maybe because it was the way Lance had delivered it or how cringey he had executed it, but the gesture went over Coran’s head. Allura concluded that a rest was mandatory for the paladins since they had just received the Yellow Lion and were probably exhausted. She told them they were free to do whatever they please on the condition of returning here for a night meeting to finish off the day. Not only were the paladins of Voltron in an unfamiliar environment, but Coran and Allura also had to grasp their situation, meaning doing check ups and repairs on the ship. The paladins had split up in their exploration of their new home. Keith and Shiro made their way towards the training area where Coran had directed them, while Hunk made his way towards the kitchen area, which left Lance and Pidge alone.

“Hey, Pidgey. Want to go exploring with me? Who knows what we’ll find in this alien ship that really seems to be coming from a fantasy story?” Lance offered.

“Yeah-” Pidge agreed a little too quickly. Pidge had wanted to explore this ancient, but technologically advanced ship by himself, but when Lance asked if he wanted to tag along how could he possibly say no. Of course they’re still relatively new to each other, but Lance’s gesture, although small, meant alot to him.

“Are you gonna stand there all day or are you coming with me?” Lance asked, already by the entrance of the room.

“I’m coming, sheesh.” 

“Okay, I’m going to let you in on something, okay. This is how I did it with Hunk and this is how I’m going to do it with you.” Lance halted immediately in the middle of the hallway and stared deeply at Pidge. 

He’s gonna do what? Oh god, is his eyes that blue? Why is he staring at me like that? My heart’s racing as is already, but now he’s backing me up on the wall. What do I do, what do I do? Pidge thought. “Um yes, Lance?” Pidge replied, keeping his cool.

“There should be no secrets between us, okay. If we want this thing to work then it has to be based on trust. Don’t worry, you don’t have to say any embarrassing stories because if you’re not comfortable with it, I wouldn’t force you. But, as a reassurance I’ll tell you two of my embarrassing stories, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“First, back in middle school I had really bad acne and I’ve asked out almost all of the popular girls back then. That didn’t end well, I can assure you. That’s why I take skincare very seriously, Pidge. And for the second story, my older sister was very lazy and so when she would go out shopping she would bring me along. Horrible, horrible idea to tag along. She chose different types of dresses and shirts and made ME wear them in the fitting room, so she can see how it looked from ‘another perspective’. There was this one time where she made me wear a sleeveless red dress that had gold outlines, granted it did look really nice, but that’s not the point!” Lance vividly explained.

Pidge couldn’t help his laughter, so his face went from being anxious to obnoxiously giggling. How could he hold it in? That last part had cracked him up, and Pidge noticed a smile right in the corner view of her eye. “Sorry. Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to laugh about that.” Pidge calmed himself down.

“No, it’s fine. Just wanted to share some memories. So….um, Pidge? Are we acquaintances or maybe even friends?” Lance questioned.

“Yeah, for sure.” Wow, that was….easier than I thought. I was the one who wanted to be friends with him, but I guess he took the first leap. 

“COOL! Let’s go check out the rest of the hangar. We’re closeby already and I wanted to get a close look at those Altean ships. There must be like three different class types.” Lance enthusiastically pointed out as they approached the entrance of the hangar. 

“Um, Lance? I wanted to say….I- Pidge isn’t my real name. Pidge is a nickname given from my family, but since I really liked it I stuck with it. It really reminds me of them and happier memories.” Pidge confessed.

“Hey, don’t rush it. I’m fine with waiting for you to open up, just take your time. I’m not gonna be mad if you take it really slow, just be comfortable with it because I don’t want our friendship to feel forced. But, I really am glad that you could tell me about your nickname, it has a nice ring to it.” Lance smiled.

“Yeah, thanks” Pidge smiled back.

“Anyways, which type of ship do you want to check out first?” 

The two paladins ran off to the hangar and began admiring ships left to right. Saying the hanger was big would be an understatement. It had levels to it: the ground floor and the multiple platforms that were elevated and connected to ramps. The ramps themselves were the size of his room back home, and the ships itself put the Garrison fighter jets to shame.Lance taking the lead, moving from one jet to the other, decided to help Pidge up in the cockpit. He could easily climb aboard, but for Pidge it was quite difficult for obvious reasons. The thought of letting Pidge climb aboard by himself crossed Lance’s mind due to it being really funny to see Pidge’s futile efforts to reach something to grasp on. Pidge got on what seems to be a jet fighter aircraft first, and to his surprise the cockpit was rather cramped. The control panel was very simplistic and had a light blue border, the pilot seat was really comfortable and had a cushion that felt undoubtedly like silk fabric. ‘Wow, the controls itself looks very efficient given that it is small and the extra screens on the sides take out the overwhelming amount of buttons on human fighter jets.’ Pidge thought.

“Okay, I’m climbing aboard now. I’ve been wanting to see the insides of an alien ship ever since we got into this Voltron situation. This is like a fantasy becoming a reality, you know. Alien ships, galactic battles and space hierarchy, all that sounds very alluring.” Lance admitted while climbing aboard to join Pidge.

“Um, wait! It’s kind of cramped in here, let me get out first.” Pidge exclaimed.

“Too late, I’m already here. WOAH! Look at this thing, it looks so different than what we have back at home. Look at the controls, they’re like all high tech and stuff.” Lance observed as he fitted himself right next to Pidge.

He’s too close, way too close! Why did I have to agree to go with him? Stupid, stupid. “Um, Lance?” 

“Have you seen the ceiling on this thing? It looks weirdly cool, you know. And look at your side, it has something on it. It’s another screen, but it looks different from the others. What does it do?” Lance rambled, leaning in towards Pidge's direction and trying to get a closer look at the thing that caught his eye.

‘Chest. His chest is just a few inches away. Do guys always wear cologne? It kind of smells good. What if I push him away and put my hands on his chest? NO! Bad Pidge! I am not perverted nor desperate to touch him. But it wouldn’t be bad, right? It’s not like this guy cares for personal space anyway. Why am I even contemplating this? My heart is frantically fluttering right now and I need to get out of this before I die from a heart attack. Maybe pushing him off isn’t a bad idea, he won’t notice my intentions anyways, right?’ Pidge pondered. But before he could come to a conclusion, Lance had already backed off.

“Hey, Pidge?”

“Yeah?” 

“The screen thing I was talking about is actually a tablet of some sort. Maybe it has like data on the Castle? Why don’t you check it out for us?” Lance handed the tablet-like gadget.

“Lance, you’re right! It looks like it's connected to the Castle’s main computer system, but it needs certain access codes for certain types of information. Like I can’t access Altean fighting methods or troop deployments, but I can access their literature and culinary sections. I’ll just ask Allura about the access codes later. Lance, you’re a genius.” Pidge 

“Yeah, I know. Maybe I can get Allura to swoon over me by my sheer intelligence, right Pidge?” Lance

“Okay, you just ruined it. I take it back, you’re just a goofball.” Pidge chided.

“No, I’m sorry Pidge! Please promote me back to a genius!” Lance pleaded jokingly. 

Lance and Pidge called it a day after a few more explorations and both headed their separate ways towards their own rooms. They had enjoyed their little adventure, but Pidge told Lance that he was going to take a break for a bit and lie down in his designated room. It was weird for Lance because Pidge’s expressions and body language showed little to no signs of fatigue and the only thing that was present was his face being flushed. He didn’t pay any mind to and just moved on to heading in the opposite direction. Allura hadn’t called them in for the meeting, Hunk was nowhere near the kitchen, Shiro and Keith had left the training room, and Coran was probably somewhere, leaving Lance all by himself. ‘This Castle is huge. I can barely find anyone. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but what? Oh the transfer thing I gotta do for Fzetia!’ Lance thought immediately. He headed towards the training rooms and requested for a dummy to be placed, but not activated. 

“Shoot, how am I supposed to transfer her consciousness if I didn’t get something from the Lion? Man, I have to go back again.” Lance complained, shoving his hands to his pockets. Surprise had filled Lance’s face as he felt a metallic chip in his pocket. ‘When did this appear in my pocket? How?’ Lance contemplated as he analyzed the newfound technology in his hands.  
“Is there some sort of way to insert this in the dummy? Guess there's only one way to find out .” 

Lance started to observe any access point on and to his convenience found an opening by its head. It was rather small and it seemed like a perfect, so Lance just shrugged and inserted the chip. 

Silence.

Silence.

It was silent for a couple of seconds until Lance was knocked away from a blue aura, leaving him in awe on the ground. The dummy began to move, like it was learning what it’s capabilities were, and finally noticed Lance. The dummy’s appearance began to shift as it moved ever so slightly towards Lance, changing from a bland white metal skin to a mystifying blue mist. Once the dummy had reached Lance, who was still dumbstruck on what’s happening, it’s appearance was straightforward. It was the cleaned up version of the Paladin armour Lance had seen in his vision, it had a touch of azure blue on its knee and shoulder guards with a more pronounced touch in the chest area. The helmet had some blue too and the visor was transparent, although there was no face there. 

“Fzetia?” Lance whispered.

“You would be correct in your assumption, Lance.” Fzetia replied with a hint of anger in her voice as she reached out her hand.

“Um, how? How was that chip in my pocket? How does this transfer the consciousness thing work?”

“Those questions are irrelevant, Lance. The real issue now is your attitude and how you’ve treated Blue. You were reckless, ignorant and you acted like a child with that stupid competition of yours.” Fzetia said in a low growl, while preparing a weapon. 

“Woah, Fzetia. Think about this.” Lance pleaded.

“Think about what? Your punishment? Why of course I’m thinking about it right now.” Fzetia growled.

Before Lance could respond Fzetia had already swept him off his feet with a polearm. Surprisingly, the polearm didn’t hurt as bad as he thought it would, but it still felt like shit. Fzetia backed off and began circling around him, keeping her eyes (well, face) on him the whole time. It was like a predator eyeing up its wounded prey, waiting for a chance to strike when the prey least expects it. 

“That’s one. We’ll be doing this for two vargas straight and I will not be holding back. Although this is your punishment, this is also a training exercise for you. If you can react and counter against me, the universe’s strongest warrior, then you have a really good chance at standing against Zarkon. For now, we’ll focus on physical training. It’s very important for you to be able to survive without relying on Blue.” Fzetia articulated, while sweeping Lance’s feet with ease.

“Universe’s strongest warrior, huh? Are you putting yourself too high now?” Lance jeered, as he attempted to evade Fzetia once more.

“Yes, I am. I was the strongest in the Altean Empire, which was the strongest in the universe. Not only that, but the previous paladins would team up against me for training and I would still win. And if you weren’t babbling your mouth, you could have parried my attack.” Fzetia continued to sweep him to the floor with ease.

“Okay, that’s really annoying. Can we stop?” Lance barked with irritation.

“By all means, go right ahead to the door. If you can pass me then you’ll prove to me that you don’t need this and you can do whatever you want. Here, I’ll give you a polearm for your defence.” 

“All I have to do is pass you?” 

“Pass me, and you’ll choose when to train and how often.” Fzetia smirked.

“Bring it on!” 

Lance soon regretted saying ‘Bring it on’ the moment Fzetia started to move. She looked like she was elegantly dancing, but Lance’s eyes were too slow to catch up and once again fell to the ground from a strike. The moment he got up, Fzetia began again with a different combination of moves. She would either spin once into extending the polearm to hit Lance or she would just attack directly, aiming for his diaphragm and connecting it with a side jab. Lance had recalled in history class that Japan had samurais, who had different types of fighting techniques for polearms and very much resembled Fzetia’s fighting style. There were at least five techniques for the polearm, but it seemed that she was switching between them, going from defence to offence and offence to defence at a second's notice. Everytime Lance would strike, she would parry and counter with ease, which drained his stamina even more. Panting, Lance gripped his polearm and swung as hard as he could towards Fzetia, only for her to parry and take advantage of his dedicated strike. Lance tried to bait her, trick her even, do something unexpected but to no avail. She had reacted so fast that some of his own strikes didn’t even reach close to her, making the situation even more hopeless.

One hundred and eight.

One hundred and eight times Lance was knocked around like a rag doll before Fzetia broke the tensed silence that had filled the room.

“Give up, Lance. You’ll have to listen to my conditions because there is no way that you can get past me.”

“Never. I will get past you, it’s only a matter of time.” Lance fired back.

“Good resolve, that’s what I’m looking for. Now, let’s see if you’re all talk.” Fzetia taunted as she started up her attack.

“By the time I’m past that door, I’ll make sure to rub it in your face that I beat you every time I go train.” It was an empty threat and Lance knew it, he had gone through just a few knock downs and everything was painful. His lax attitude had really gone back to bite him, maybe if he had realized the situation, he could have gotten closer to the door. Regret. Regret had built up and was now eating him up. Questions like: Why did I even agree to this? Why was I an idiot? I should have just left the chip somewhere else, right?, filled Lance’s mind. 

“Are you having doubt? Regret? I thought you had already resolved yourself?”

“Resolved myself? I just came here by accident! This whole thing is nice and dandy, but I didn’t sign up to fight! This isn’t my fight, okay? Why couldn’t you finish your own fight, huh? Maybe we wouldn’t be here if you did your job!” Lance knew he didn’t mean half of what he said, he was just angry that the price for being up in space and piloting an alien ship may have been too high of a price. Afterall, Lance was just a normal teenager whose biggest fear was being expelled by the Garrison. From having a normal life to suddenly thrown into the midst of a galactic war, ready to throw one’s life for the sake of the universe was very appalling. Overwhelmed with the amount of responsibilities he had unknowingly taken, Lance had just vented his anger and fear on someone who did everything they could but failed. Guilt. Guilt began to take place instead of regret, making Lance’s shoulders drop.

“I was like you, you know. That’s what the Blue Paladin is all about: understanding others and how they feel, holding a certain group together. What if we die? What will happen to your loved ones? Surely they’ll grieve, and it will probably hurt more because you didn’t say a proper goodbye. But will they be the only ones? No. everyone will grieve if a Paladin falls, not only are we the beacon of hope, but we are also a beacon for a better future. At the beginning, it's hard. Really gosh darn difficult, Lance. You have to steel yourself, Lance, not for your family but for the others that look up to Voltron. We can’t change the past, we can only move forward, we can only try to make a better future. Like you said, I couldn’t finish my own fight and I failed as the Blue Paladin, indirectly killing my best friends and letting my leader lose himself. I’m preparing you for the battle to come, to save the universe and redeem the people of the past. As cliche as it sounds, it doesn’t make it any less true.” Fzetia admitted, stopping the training session immediately and began to head towards one of the benches. Lance follows her, but sits on the opposite side.

If guilt hadn’t engulfed Lance, then it definitely swallowed him entirely. 

“Hey, Fzetia?” 

“Hmm?”

“I want to apologize for lashing out. I was just scared to think that I won’t be seeing my family soon. When the idea of real, like real war hit me, I didn’t know how to comprehend it.”

“It’s fine, Lance. We both said things we didn’t want to say, me trying to fix my problems quickly so I can have a reassured mind already. It takes time, really. Just baby steps towards being the best Blue Paladin should be our goal. We’re a team now, and I promise I’ll do everything in my power so you can see your family again.” Fzetia comforted.

“Oh, nevermind. I know the real reason why you miss home. You really miss flirting with girls.” Fzetia continued in a joking manner, gesturing to Lance to follow her outside the training room.

“What! No. How do you even know about that?” 

“Like I said, I was like you. I was a big flirt back then, and I reeled in many suitors.” Fzetia cackled.

“Oh, then how about the Green Paladin? Did he catch you off guard and fell for him.” Lance retorted, getting back at Fzetia.

Fzetia made an obviously fake cough. “Hey, we shouldn’t go there. Anyways, you paladins received the serum already, right?”

“Serum?” Confusion had covered Lance’s face.

“Yeah, before the Altean empire had fallen, our top scientists accompanied by the Green Paladin made a serum to make any species become a paladin. Our fall was inevitable, and we needed to know that the next generation of paladins could withstand the might of the Galra. It’s harmless, it just enhances one’s endurance and stamina, but by how much is up to the user. I don’t really know how, you would have to ask my husband.” Fzetia explained.

Stopping, Fzetia looked at Lance with a very concerned face. “I’ve battled you, expecting that you had taken it already. Did Coran not brief you on this?”

“Um, we were really busy with retrieving the Lions and making it back safe to the Castle, but to answer your question, no.” Lance confessed.

“Coran Coran is going to be a dead man. I could have killed you, Lance!” 

“Well, I am told that I am very resistant and quite durable. So you wouldn’t have killed me, unless you used a real weapon.” Lance bluffed, trying to hide the pain around his stomach and sides.

“I won’t respond to that because I’m pretty sure you’re in pain right now. The fact that you resemble me so much is mind boggling, the arrogance and being a flirt is spot on. Well, at least I can discipline you like a mother now because I can guess what things you’re tempted to do. I’ve always wanted to be a mother.” Fzetia smiled to herself as she led Lance down the hall to look for Coran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My schedule is kind of cramped right now, but believe me when I say this is one of my priorities. Most of my free time will be dedicated towards this and I hope to not keep you waiting for a very long time. Leave a comment describing what you felt, how I could do better or just tell me how you're day was. Sorry if this is short, I don't really know how to be consistent yet, again this is a learning process for me. I do hope I've done some improvements because I felt proud of this chapter, you know.
> 
> Well, gonna start on the next chapter to see ya guys then :D

**Author's Note:**

> I might not have the capacity to update weekly or as frequent as you guys like, but take my word when I say I will do my hardest to update this as much as possible. I don't want to let you guys down. This is an ambitious work, but hey I want to try and learn from this. Failing is key, but I don't want to mess up this idea I have, ARGGHHH! Well, it's like they say: Go Big or Go Home.


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